Translate, Publish, Propagate

Translate, Publish, Propagate

1989 6 June 4 Translate, Publish, Propagate (345) Muslims seem to have forgotten that of all the peoples of the world, they are the bearers of the true religion. The greatest task before them is to communicate God’s religion to the whole of mankind. But it is this very task that present day Muslims seem least Inclined to perform.

When the Quran was translated into Czech a few years ago, it was sold out within just a few weeks of its publication. From this one may imagine what great opportunities there are for propagating Islam all over the world today. But Muslims have shown very little interest in this task. There is special need for the Quran to be translated into every minor and major language of the world and then published and distributed in every corner of the globe. Other books which would help in the study of Islam are also in short supply.

A south Indian Muslim once told me the tale of a Christian friend of his who had wanted to buy a translation of the Quran and who had only found one with great difficulty and then had had to pay a very high price for it. When they met later his friend had remarked that the Muslims could not match the efforts of the Christians to spread the message of their faith. “I obtained a translation of the Quran with difficulty and it was very expensive, but if I had phoned up any Christian agency and told them that I required Bibles for distribution, 5000 copies would have been brought to my office within a matter of a few hours.”

Saudi Arabia and a few other Muslim countries have recently been making efforts in this direction, but their overall performance is still very short of the mark.

Muslims seem to have forgotten that of all the peoples of the world, they are the bearers of the true religion. The greatest task before them is to communicate God’s religion to the whole of mankind. But it is this very task that present day Muslims seem least inclined to perform.